UFC star Polyana Viana left a man with horrific facial injuries after he tried to rob her with a cardboard gun.

The cowering thief even begged her to call the cops in fear of another beating after targeting the wrong person.

The Brazilian was waiting for her Uber in Rio de Janeiro when the misguided criminal demanded she hand over her phone.

After claiming he had a gun, Viana punched and kicked the would-be-robber before locking him in a rear-naked choke.

Viana, 26, kept the man in a submission while she waited for police to arrive.

“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me,” she told MMA Junkie.

“He asked me the time, I said it, and I saw he wasn’t going to leave. So I already moved to put my cell phone in my waist. And then he said, ‘Give me the phone. Don’t try to react, because I’m armed.’

“Then he put his hand over (a gun), but I realised it was too soft.”

This cardboard gun isn't fooling anyone.Source:Instagram

The gun turned out to be a cardboard cut-out. “He was really close to me. So I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ So I stood up I threw two punches and a kick,” Viana said.

“He fell, then I caught him in a rear-naked choke. Then I sat him down in the same place we were before and said, ‘Now we’ll wait for the police.’”

Viana, who is 1-1 in the UFC but won nine of her ten MMA fights before that, insists she was calm throughout the attack.

She punches people for a living you goose. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

“I was fine because he didn’t even react after. Since he took the punches very quickly, I think he was scared,” she said.

“So he didn’t react anymore. He told me to let him go, like ‘I just asked for the time.’ I said, ‘Asked for the time my ass,’ because he saw I was very angry. I said I wouldn’t let go and that I was going to call the police.

“He said, ‘Call the police, then’ because he was scared I was going to beat him up more.”

Viana had passers-by call the cops, who took the man to hospital for treatment before hauling him to the police station.

She was told the man had been arrested before and was not long released for a previous crime.

Surely the UFC T-shirt she was wearing was a warning sign.Source:Instagram

It is not the first time the UFC fighter has had to fend for herself on the streets of Brazil.

In fact, another robber tried to take her phone while she was in her home town of Belem.

“He broke my umbrella and tried to take my phone. I said I wasn’t going to give it to him,” Viana said.

“He tried to take it from my hand, I punched him in the face, and he was scared. This time I was scared. I don’t know if it was because there were two of them.

“So I was scared, but I think he was more scared than I was, so he jumped on the motorcycle and left.”

This article was originally published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Polyana Viana teaches Rio robber a bloody lesson

A robber who tried to steal a cellphone from a young woman in Rio de Janeiro learned the hard way that mugging a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who goes by the nickname “the Iron Lady” is not an excellent idea.

Polyana Viana, an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight, brought the hapless perp down with two punches and a kick and held him in a “rear-naked choke” before making him sit and wait for the police, she told the sports website MMA Junkie.

The attempted crime happened late Saturday as Viana, 27, was waiting for an Uber outside her apartment block. She said the man told her he had a gun but she surmised it probably wasn’t real and in any case “he won’t have time to draw it” before she went into action.

Alexander 'The Great' wins

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After subduing the assailant she discovered the weapon was in fact a cardboard replica of a pistol.

Viana posted images of the would-be robber, looking dejected and bruised, with blood on his sleeveless shirt and on a hand, as she kept his arm in a “kimura-like position” until the police arrived.

“Since he took the punches very quickly, I think he was scared,” she told the site.

She said that, after the suspect’s processing by police and treatment for his injuries, she went home and made dinner. Her hands hurt a bit the next day, but nothing serious and she was otherwise unharmed.

UFC president Dana White tweeted, with a photo of the incident: “On the left is Polyana Viana, one of our UFC fighters and on the right is the guy who tried to rob her #badf***ingidea.”

Jamie Lee Curtis making film about stand-in mother at gay weddings

Jamie Lee Curtis is turning a heartwarming story of acceptance into a new film.

The star of Halloween and Scream Queens has confirmed she’s bought the rights to the 2014 memoir How We Sleep At Night, which tells the story of how Oklahoma woman Sara Cunningham came to terms with her son’s sexuality.

Cunningham rose to prominence last summer when she announced that she would stand in as a substitute mother for any LGBTQ people whose parents wouldn’t attend their same-sex wedding.

Back in September, Curtis tweeted a photo alongside Cunningham where she told her followers about the great work she does to help members of the community, sparking speculation that a new project may be in the works.

“Spent the day with my doppelgänger, inspirational mama bear, leader, author and social activist, Sara Cunningham, whose program [Free Mom Hugs] offers support to LGBTQ members whose families don’t,” she wrote.

Now, Curtis has confirmed that she has bought the rights to Cunningham’s memoir, and will be turning it into a film.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Curtis said she had spent three days with Cunningham and her family last year, and was so inspired by her story that she decided to bring it to the big screen.

“I continue to be thrilled as her movement is catching on. I hope to do justice to her story and the story of so many marginalised people in the LGBTQ community,” she said.

“I saw the impact that her movement has already had, in and around Oklahoma City. It’s exciting to watch something that was born out of such conflict develop into something of such deep compassion and expansive acceptance.”

As well as offering to be a stand-in mother for same-sex weddings, Cunningham also founded a charity called Free Mom Hugs, which is “dedicated to educating families, church and civil leaders” about LGBTQ equality.

She attends gay weddings as a ‘stand-in mom.’ Now they’re making a movie about her.

“I was moved by her journey,” Curtis told the Washington Post. “And I continue to be thrilled as her movement is catching on.”

“I hope to do justice to her story and the story of so many marginalized people in the LGBTQ community.”

“I saw the impact that her movement has already had, in and around Oklahoma City,” she continued. “It’s exciting to watch something that was born out of such conflict develop into something of such deep compassion and expansive acceptance.”

In her book, Cunningham wrote about her own process in accepting her gay son when he came out in 2011.

“I thought it might just be a phase,” she said. “And then when he turned 21, he ‘came out’ to me and said that he’d met someone and needed me to be okay with it.”

She wrote that she became depressed and wasn’t exactly the perfect PFLAG mom for her son when he initially came out.

“I prayed, I fasted, I burned incense and shamed my son into burning his journals,” she wrote.

“We were fighting a spiritual battle inside the walls of a non-affirming church,” her son Parker said. “My mother and I were both struggling with what we thought was a literal ‘life or death’ situation when it came to my soul and how I’d spend eternity.”

Things started to turn around when she went to pride with her son in 2014.

“It was my first encounter with the LGBTQ community, and it was as beautiful as it could be,” Cunningham said. “I realized that I’d been alienated for years by own ignorance and fear.”

The next year, she went back and offered “Free Mom Hugs.”

“Whenever I made eye contact with anybody, I’d offer to give them a hug or a high five,” she said. “I went home covered with glitter.”

Since she made her offer last year, she said that a few people have actually asked her to stand-in for their moms at their weddings. She went to her first wedding as a stand-in last year, and she has three more booked already.

WATCH: Mel Tucker shares what he’s leaving behind with Georgia football program

SAN JOSE, Calif. — New Colorado coach Mel Tucker said Monday he’s leaving behind a championship caliber program at Georgia.

“Georgia is loaded, I’m leaving behind a great head football coach, an excellent staff, guys that care about kids, great teachers, motivators, developers of talent and a really strong roster,” Tucker told DawgNation in an exclusive interview.

“I think Kirby, with his passion for the University of Georgia, for the game of football, and just his energy is apparent each and every day in our staff meetings, in the meetings with the players, in practice and on game days and that’s key.

“His energy is off the charts, his passion is off the charts.”

Tucker, who spent the past three seasons helping Smart built the Bulldogs into a title contender, will watch the CFP Championship Game between Alabama and Clemson on Monday night knowing Georgia could have been there.

Tucker admits he still hasn’t watched a replay of the SEC Championship Game, and he’s in no hurry to do so.

Tucker recognizes just how close the Bulldogs were to beating Alabama and making another run at the CFP Championship Game in the playoffs before falling 35-28 on Dec. 1.

Georgia held the Tide’s record-setting offense in check until All-SEC selection and Bulldogs sacks leader D’Andre Walker left the game with a groin injury.

Meanwhile, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts came off the bench and led the Tide to the comeback in the SEC Championship Game.

“It’s tough, I haven’t watched the game yet on tape,” Tucker said Monday morning at the annual FWAA awards breakfast. “I saw it once, I don’t need to see it again right now, maybe in the summer.

“Every single one of those plays, there’s so many moving parts, you have so many plays in a game, you can rewind a play 100 times and see something different every time, and you think ‘If I’d have just done this, or maybe if I’d have called this,’ and it’s just hard when you look back on it and you’re that close I think it’s worse when you are that close.

“It’s so hard to win a football game now, that’s what makes it so special what Clemson is doing, and what Nick (Saban) is doing to just keep getting back, year after year, it’s incredible.”

Tucker said the first key to beating Alabama, as Georgia as nearly done — UGA led or was tied with the Tide for 281 of 290 plays and nearly 119 of 120 minutes the past two meetings — is confidence.

“The first thing is kids have to believe they can win the game, so many times kids get overwhelmed by the other teams’ talent, and before you know it you’re down three or four scores,” Tucker said. “I think our players, from an experience standpoint, they knew we matched up with these guys, it’s not so much about what they do, it’s how we execute and how hard we play.

“So the mindset going into the game helped a lot, and then just knowing their offense and what to expect, there was no secrets what they were going to try to do and how they were going to try to do it, and it was just making sure that our kids were prepared, and they were.”

Tucker is ready to get to work in Boulder and restore Colorado to its championship caliber status.

“First and foremost, we’ll have the best conditioned team, we’ll be based in techniques and fundamentals,” Tucker said. “Our players will play smart, we won’t beat ourselves, we’ll play fast, and we want to play a physical brand of football, we will be extremely physical.”

Colorado hires Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker

Colorado hired the Georgia defensive coordinator as its football coach Wednesday after he helped rebuild the Bulldogs into a national contender. He wants to bring that same sort of swagger to Boulder.

Not down the road, either, but pronto.

"Colorado should be a 'no excuse' program,'" Tucker said in a statement. "There's absolutely no reason we can't achieve success at an extremely high level."

Tucker receives a five-year, $14.75 million contract under a deal that's pending approval from the board of regents. He starts immediately and won't coach Georgia in the Sugar Bowl against Texas on New Year's Day.

The 46-year-old Tucker replaces Mike MacIntyre, who was fired with a game remaining in the season and the team mired in a six-game skid. The Buffaloes lost their final game under interim coach Kurt Roper to miss a bowl berth for a second straight season.

After several stints as an NFL defensive coordinator, Tucker became an assistant head coach for Nick Saban at Alabama in 2015. He spent a season with the Crimson Tide -- capturing a national title -- before following coach Kirby Smart to Georgia to build a feisty defense. The Bulldogs lost to Alabama last weekend in the SEC championship contest and in overtime last season in the championship game.

Tucker has never been a head coach on the collegiate level, but has learned under some big names. He helped Ohio State and Jim Tressel to a national title as a defensive backs coach in 2002 and was brought on board by Saban on three different occasions.

"I've known Mel for well over 20 years and he is one of the brightest coaches in our profession," Saban said. "They are getting a guy with a great personality, who knows college football, works hard each and every day, and does it with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and positive energy."

Tressel couldn't agree more.

"The Buffalo football family will thrive under Mel's leadership," he said. "A man with high expectations for himself and his student-athletes, Colorado football will enjoy a terrific recruiter, football strategist, and an `all-in' member of the community."

This won't be the first time that Colorado has hired someone without any previous collegiate head coaching experience. Tucker joins a list that includes such names as Dal Ward (1948), Sonny Grandelius (1959), Eddie Crowder (1963), Bill McCartney (1982), Rick Neuheisel (1995) and Jon Embree (2011).

McCartney led the Buffaloes to a national title in 1990.

"If you go back last month when I talked about what I wanted in our next head coach, you'll find that Mel checks all those boxes," athletic director Rick George said. "He has great experience and a terrific pedigree. I like the way he coaches football, his toughness and accountability. Those are the things we were looking for."

On the pro level, Tucker has served as a defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears. He also was the interim head coach for Jacksonville over the final five games in 2011 after Jack Del Rio was fired.

"I'm excited, my family is excited and we've been associated with some very good programs, winning national championships at Ohio State and Alabama with a lot of success elsewhere along the way," said Tucker, who was a defensive back at Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez. "There's no reason we can't experience the same at Colorado. It is a sleeping giant."

Especially with some of the talent he has returning. Like receiver Laviska Shenault, who earned all-conference honors after 86 catches for 1,011 yards and six TDs despite missing a few games with a toe ailment. There's also quarterback Steven Montez, who threw for 2,849 yards.

The Buffaloes started off with five straight wins before going into a tailspin that ultimately cost MacIntyre his job. MacIntyre was voted AP college football coach of the year after leading the Buffaloes to a Pac-12 South title and 10 victories in 2016. That was his only winning season at Colorado.

"There's no learning curve with Mel. He's been in the business," George said. "We brought him here to win now, and I truly believe Mel will make us a winner next year."

Watch: Julio Jones coaches up Alabama WR Jerry Jeudy before game

One of the nice things about playing at Alabama is the network of alumni you have a connection to. Take for example what was surrounding Jerry Jeudy as he was warming up for the National Championship Game on Monday at Levi’s Stadium.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones, who starred at Alabama from 2008-2010, was down in the end zone coaching up Jeudy before the game.

Jeudy entered the game with 63 catches for 1,176 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. In his best season at Alabama, Jones had 78 catches for 1,133 yards and 7 touchdowns. Jeudy’s numbers compare pretty well to the NFL star.

VIDEO: Alabama Legend Julio Jones Coaches Up WR Jerry Jeudy Before National Title Game

Braulio Perez08 JAN 2019​Advantage Alabama. Minutes before Monday night's National Championship Game between the ​Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy took the field for his pre-game routine. There's one major difference, however. Donning a fresh Alabama hoodie, Falcons' wide receiver and former Tide great Julio Jones was on the gridiron giving Jeudy some pointers:

John Travolta finally admits his baldness and shaves his head

John Travolta has been in denial for some years about the status of his hair, but now it seems he’s finally embraced his baldness.

In a picture posted to his Instagram page yesterday, he appeared with his daughter Ella, and wished fans a Happy New Year.The snap finds him clean shaven up top, and, frankly, it’s gone down like a house on fire.

“Digging the bald look on you!!!” said one fan.

“John, hair is so overrated, love the picture. Very Handsome,” added another.

“Bald is sooo much better!”

“You sir are one handsome man. The icon of our generation! Bald or wigged do whatever makes you happy.”

Indeed, he’s strangely vacillated over the years, appearing with more hair, then less hair, then more hair again, confounding both fans and science.

One of his most famous scenes from Saturday Night Fever even includes a tense exchange between a young Travolta and his father over his hair at the dinner table.

And who could forget his iconic greased quiff from Grease.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in Grease (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

Just let us know the date of the official comb-burning ceremony, John. We’ll be there.

Pete Davidson making impromptu appearance at College Street Music Hall

Pete Davidson, the young “Saturday Night Live” regular whose off-camera behavior has frequently landed him in the news, will perform Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at College Street Music Hall in New Haven. The show was announced Monday afternoon.

The show is billed as “Pete Davidson & Friends,” though the “friends” have not been specified. Davidson, who’s known his snarky and self-deprecating slacker-styled humor, has performed similarly titled shows in recent months with an assortment of lesser-known stand-up comedians. The Jan. 11 show is part of a brief spate of just-announced shows, including two in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Jan. 12, not far from where Davidson grew up in Staten Island.

Davidson joined the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 2014, when he was just 20 years old. (He turned 25 this past November.) His short-lived engagement to pop star Ariana Grande this past summer was the grist for several “SNL” sketches in September. The engagement was called off in October. In November, Davidson was accused of insensitivity when he described Congressman (and former Navy Seal) Dan Crenshaw as looking like “a hitman in a porno movie.” Crenshaw appeared on the next episode of the show to receive an on-air apology from Davidson.

Last month Davidson made headlines again when he posted on Instagram that "I really don’t want to be on this Earth anymore,” prompting New York police to visit the “Saturday Night Live” studio for a “wellness check.”

As is becoming common with some artists, those whose attend the Pete Davidson show at College Street Music Hall will have to place their cellphones and other electronic devices in “Yondr pouches” that won’t be unlocked until after the show is over. “Anyone caught with a cellphone will be immediately ejected,” College Street Music Hall warns in a statement.

College Street Music Hall is at 238 College St. in downtown New Haven. The venue, which mainly does rock concerts, has also attracted shows by some major comedians over the years, sometimes at short notice. Aziz Ansari made College Street Music Hall one of the stops on his comeback tour in September, and Mike Birbiglia worked out material there for what became his current Broadway show “The New One.”

Tickets to the Jan. 12 “Pete Davidson & Friends” show cost $32.04 and are available through Ticketfly, 877-987-6487. More information is at collegestreetmusicalhall.com.

The show is called "Pete Davidson & Friends", but it is unclear who will be joining Davidson on stage. The show is part of a new batch of just-announced shows, including Tarrytown, New York, on Saturday night (SNL is a repeat).

According to College Street Music Hall, no cellphones will be allowed at the event. Cellphones will be placed in Yondr pouches, and will be unlocked after the performance. Anyone caught using a cellphone will be ejected.